Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!

Working relationship quickly soured

Rex Tillerson, who as a long-time corporate executive was an unconventional pick for secretary of state, seemed like he was on thin ice from very early on in his administration tenure.

He was distrusted by veteran State Department employees, who viewed him as an outside interloper with little affinity for the organisation he headed. The president, initially enamoured with the brash Texan, quickly appeared to sour on his pick, as he frequently broke with the White House line on foreign policy.

Reportedly calling the president a moron (intensified by a choice expletive) certainly didn’t help, either.

Mr Tillerson did manage to hang around through those earlier controversies, outliving his earlier expectations that he would be gone by year’s end. Instead he made it to March, but it was clear that this was a move some time in the making, given that Mr Trump already had successor Mike Pompeo lined up to take over the reins.

Just last week Mr Trump tweeted that he had a few more staff changes he wanted to make. Now it’s clear he had one move in particular in mind.

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Media captionPompeo on Russia, North Korea and Trump

Who are the nominees?

A US Senate report found that Ms Haspel ran a notorious CIA prison in Thailand, where prisoners were waterboarded in 2002.

The CIA deputy director was also accused of destroying dozens of videotapes of interrogations at the camp.

Both the new secretary of state and CIA director will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Why was Tillerson fired?

Reports had swirled since last year of a schism in the Trump administration between the commander-in-chief and his top diplomat.

Last October Mr Tillerson was forced to convene a news conference to deny claims he planned to quit, though he did not address a report that he had referred to his boss as a moron after a Pentagon meeting.

Last autumn, Mr Trump publicly undercut the former Texas oilman by tweeting that he was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with North Korea.

In December, the secretary of state departed from administration talking points when he offered to begin direct talks with Pyongyang without preconditions.

The White House – which insisted North Korea must first accept any negotiations would be about giving up its nuclear arsenal – distanced itself from his remarks.

Mr Tillerson was reported to be astonished at how little Mr Trump grasped the basics of foreign policy.

The Republican president, meanwhile, was irritated by Mr Tillerson’s body language during meetings, the New York Times reported.

The secretary of state was said to roll his eyes or slouch when he disagreed with Mr Trump’s decisions.